


The Proposal

by wheel_pen



Series: Lucy [14]
Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 10:32:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/773187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lionel has ideas about who Lex should marry. So does Lex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Lucy, my original character, is Clark’s cousin on the Kent side. Although human she may have some strange psychic powers and definitely has some issues in her past. She’s having a tough time with her mom and goes to live with Jonathan and Martha for a while. She and Lex form a relationship.
> 
> 2\. In my world, Lex eventually becomes President. And his staff is from The West Wing. 
> 
> 3\. I started writing this series during the third season of Smallville, so it diverges from canon then or earlier.
> 
> 4\. The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this AU. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.

            Lex usually passed through a number of emotions while reading e-mails from his father, among them horror, anger, disbelief, defiance, and a devious urge to undermine his orders, perhaps by following the literal command instead of the obvious intent. Or some other childish scheme. This was one of those rare times when Lex decided that he knew _exactly_ what to do in response to his father’s missive, and it didn’t feel like a teenage temper tantrum. But it did require some assistance. “Lucy!”

            There was a thump from some nearby part of the house, followed by a clang, and Lex arched an eyebrow. “Lucy!” he repeated.

            “I’m okay!” she called out.

            “Come here.” He heard the soft padding of bare feet on hardwood floors and swiveled in his chair to face her as she entered the office. It was 2pm on a Saturday, so of course she was still wearing her delightfully immodest pajamas, emblazoned with silk-screened… “Nice melons,” Lex commented dryly. Lucy made a face at him and turned around to show him that slogan embroidered on the seat of her pajama pants. “I like this designer,” he decided. “Come here.”

            He started to pull her into his lap. “Careful,” Lucy warned. “I’ve got peanut butter all over my hands.”

            Lex settled her with a leg on either side of his. “Why,” he asked, glancing down at the sticky fingers she was trying to keep away from his Egyptian cotton dress shirt, “do you have peanut butter all over your hands?”

            “Accident in the kitchen,” she replied matter-of-factly. He decided to leave it at that.

            “I just got an e-mail from my father,” Lex began. “He says…” He found himself suddenly distracted as he noticed her red hair appeared to be bound in seven different lopsided ponytails. “What happened to your hair?” Lucy shrugged, unconcerned. “Anyway,” Lex continued, clasping her wrists in his hands and bringing a peanut-butter-covered finger up to his mouth, “my father says, he thinks it’s time I started to settle down…” He nibbled on a finger, taking off the main coating of peanut butter. “…get married…” He introduced a small degree of suction and employed his tongue to remove the residual film. “…fill out my branch on the family tree, continue in the proud tradition of father-son dysfunction that is the hallmark of the Luthor lineage.”

            Lucy’s cheeks were a bit pink. “I suppose he didn’t phrase it that way.”

            “Not in so many words, no.” Lex glanced back at the e-mail displayed on his computer screen. “Thoughtfully, he included a list of ‘suitable candidates’ for the role of bride.”

            Lucy snickered. “Anyone I know?”

            “I think you may have insulted a couple of them at cocktail parties in your younger, wilder days,” Lex admitted, moving on to another peanut buttery finger.

            “So,” Lucy asked, although she appeared somewhat distracted, “do you have a _special_ electronic incinerator for e-mails from your father, or do you just delete them like normal and try to move on?”

            Lex smirked. “Actually,” he told her, “this time I think he might have the rare idea that I agree with.”

            Her expression changed, as he anticipated it would, and Lex slipped an arm around her waist while still holding her wrists tightly. “Really?” Her tone was cooler as well.

            “For some inexplicable reason,” he began smoothly, “married people are perceived as more stable, more trustworthy…” His voice dropped to a hiss that sent a shiver down her spine. “Less threatening.”

            Lucy shivered a little bit. She probably should have worn her jacket—the house tended to be drafty, even in the summer. “I don’t think getting married would make you less threatening, Lex,” she countered, trying for a joke. Somehow her laughter sounded a little nervous. He _was_ holding her wrists rather tightly.

            “I said that’s the _perception_ ,” he corrected her. “And it would probably be a good idea to produce some… heirs to the dynasty. To secure my place in the line of succession.”

            “Oh, yeah, that’s a great reason to have kids,” Lucy commented, but her sarcasm lacked bite.

            “Besides which,” Lex added, checking the e-mail again, “a certain kind of spouse can bring all kinds of additional benefits to the union. All the women he suggested are, of course, very well-connected and invariably wealthy.”

            He could tell she was getting angry, and she was starting to squirm a bit more, as she tried to pull away from him. Not that he minded the squirming much. “Of course.”

            “But how to choose?” he continued, feigning obliviousness to her mood. “Clarissa Downington, for example, is a very beautiful young woman. She’s all over those glossy magazines, wearing the latest fashions, attending the hottest parties.”

            “Sounds pretty _boring_ to me,” Lucy muttered, tugging ineffectively at her bound hands.

            “But then you also have someone like Madeline Bowman-Birk,” Lex mused, “who though certainly not deficient in the looks department, is more noted for graduating at the top of her class at Harvard Law School and holding the rare _well-deserved_ position of vice-president at her uncle’s shipping company.”

            “Probably a workaholic,” Lucy told him snidely. “She wouldn’t want to derail her career to have kids.”

            Lex considered that. “Well then, there’s always Haven von Reitz,” he pointed out. “Attractive enough, no threat to anyone’s intellect or ambition, and the eldest daughter of one of the richest men in Europe. Her family has a private island off the coast of Greece, accessible by their yacht which has—so I’ve heard—toilets plated in 14-karat gold.”

            “Well that’s just _dumb_ ,” Lucy declared irritably. She was tired of this conversation—especially since it was pretty obvious that _she_ had nothing in common with any of the women on that list. “So which one’s it gonna be?” she demanded, seeing that he wasn’t going to let her get up and leave the room until he was good and ready. “Or do you have to do ‘research’ on all of them first?”

            Lex looked thoughtful. “That’s not a bad idea, actually. Maybe I could invite them all over for a couple months and we could film it for a reality show.”

            “Yeah, I don’t think your dad would be cool with that.”

            He tightened his grip on her, since she was squirming more. “Probably one at a time would be better. What do you think, a week each?”

            “That’d be _real_ classy. Let me go.”

            “Sit still,” Lex told her. “Actually, I think I’ve already decided who it will be.”

            Up until this point, Lucy thought that perhaps Lex had just been teasing her, trying to get a rise out of her. Obnoxious, certainly, but ultimately harmless. But he was starting to look more and more serious. So Lucy became more and more nervous.

            “Lucky girl,” she replied sarcastically. “Is she on the list?”

            Lex shook his head. “Nope. Do you think my father will mind?”

            “I guess it depends on _who_ she is,” Lucy ground out.

            Lex smiled at her, a real smile for once. “You.”

            Lucy paused mid-squirm. “What?” she asked in confusion.

            “I’ve decided that I will ask _you_ to marry me,” Lex clarified. His expression turned serious, and he let her hands go. “So, Lucy Kent, would you marry me?”

            For a moment Lex felt like time had frozen solid, that he would spend eternity staring up at Lucy’s green eyes. Which might not be that bad. Then she gasped and threw her arms around his neck, giggling madly. He couldn’t help but smile at that. “So is that a yes?” he inquired.

            “Yes, yes, yes,” Lucy told him, emphasizing her answer with a few breathless kisses, “absolutely.” Then suddenly she jerked back and looked down at his shirt. “Oh, I’m sorry, Lex!”

            He stared at the peanut butter smears settling into the expensive fabric. “I think that outcome was probably inevitable,” he told her with a shrug.

            Lucy smiled and leaned back in to kiss him, then smacked his shoulder viciously. “You are such a _b-----d_ ,” she accused him, half serious.

            “What?”

            “You _completely_ led me on!”

            “How could I lead you on?” Lex protested. “I’m going to marry you.”

            “You know _exactly_ what I mean,” Lucy told him pointedly. “You let me think you were seriously going to marry one of those Clarissas or Madelines or-or _Havens_!”

            “Well, they _are_ on the list,” he replied. “Besides, you’re really sexy when you’re angry at me.”

            He tried to pull her in for a kiss but she leaned back and said seriously, “This is going to cause trouble for you, isn’t it, Lex? With your dad, I mean.”

            Lex paused, thought it over, nodded. “Yeah, he would probably prefer I not _improvise_ on this decision.” He smiled at her reassuringly. “But he’ll get over it. Your aunt and uncle, on the other hand…”

            Lucy started to wave his concern off. “Oh, they’ll…” He raised his eyebrows at her. “They’ll…” She quickly thought through a couple of scenarios. “D—n, you’re right. Maybe I should say no.”

            The reaction was immediate. “ _What_?” he asked, eyes narrowing as his arms locked around her.

            Her smile spread slowly across her face as he continued to glare. “They’ll get over it, too,” she assured him, leaning down for a kiss. “At some point.”


End file.
